remarkable boy, I do admire your courage.
I think I'll eat your heart
Nostromo’s job is simple - stand still. They’ve hunting like this before, learned to use their unique appearance as a distraction. There’s relatively few of them out there, they think (or, they would if they had any thoughts), because they’re still met with surprise every time they come across someone new. They are always stared at. It’s hard to break eye contact with something completely and utterly new, even if your instincts are telling you that new thing is also very Wrong and Dangerous.
Ripley does not move, not yet. She still watches. She watches as the green creature speaks again, and then watches as that creatures steps towards Nostromo. A delighted hum almost, almost, escapes from the elder of the monsters but she silences herself quickly and continues to stare with black eyes.
Nostromo still doesn’t understand anything the green creature is saying, but she doesn’t really need to. She has her part. Although it is technically to stand still, her instincts encourage her to mirror the creature’s movements.
So Nostromo takes a single step forward.
She raises her head a little and tilts it, almost looking curious. It might be hard to pull off the curious little creature head tilt as a monster built for consuming flesh but maybe the action is close enough to curiosity to pass for it.
They could continue this dance for a while, probably. Maybe the green creature would get close enough to touch, maybe Nostromo would even let her.
But they aren’t here to make friends. And they’re too hungry to toy with dinner for long.
Nostromo flicks her tail but keeps it behind her, keeps that sharp knife blade away from the girl and in the shadows. She’s hoping that the green creature will watch that movement and not look around her.
Because Ripley moves then. She surges forward out of the shrubs to the right, no roar or growl accompanies her but her mouth opens wide as she lunges for the girl, silver sharp teeth glinting in the low light. She's bigger than Nostromo - the dome exoskeleton of her head fans out to create a crown - and there is nothing in the snapping of her teeth that even suggests she can be reasoned with.
And if that girl were to look for Nostromo for help she would not see it there either - because the daughter moves in time with the mother, a deep clicking noise sounding from far within her as that tail thrashes menacingly behind her. Not-quite-lips peel back to reveal her own dangerous set of teeth and she tries to close the gap between her and the green one as fast as she can. Perhaps they’ll be quick enough to pin their prey between them, perhaps they’ll get a bit of a chase out of it if the girl is smarter than she has seemed so far.
Right now, they only have thoughts of digging their teeth into her soft flesh and are willing to do anything to make that happen.
ripley & nostromo
XXVIII eaten to date----- |
